《Hero Scout》Chapter 9 - Evil Souls 18
Advertisement
Kenji scanned the boy knight's memories quickly and decided to snatch a silver candle from the shrine to the Everseeing. More than a mere candle, Kenji could now see it was filled with holy power. Used as a magical focus, this is what had allowed Arthur to cast spells he had spent years learning.
Turning slowly, Kenji strode to where the corpse of Mr Guard lay.
"I'm sorry Mr Guard, but I promise I will avenge you. So you can rest now, and thank you very much for the help. Even if I couldn't keep your boy alive," Kenji wiped away the tears as he pulled away the iron helm. The man was rugged, with a broken nose and eyes that stared into eternity.
Slowly, Kenji closed them. Clasping his hands he whispered a prayer, before dragging himself away with the heaviest heart in all the world.
Candle in hand, he pulled the windows open. Sucking in a big breath, Kenji carefully stepped through, to walk alone slippery roofing with steel-wrapped feet. It took precious time, but eventually, he got to the point where he could jump a gap and land atop the stone walls of the quart yard.
Recalling memories of the last battle, Kenji's heart sank. From Arthur's perspective, the intruder had been deadly fast, wickedly skilled and had only gotten wounded at all due to his fear of his white fire and Kenji's suicidal tackle. How the previous guards managed to wound the assassin at all was beyond Kenji's understanding. Even wounded, the assassin was likely to be faster and more experienced.
Kenji needed a plan.
Activating his blessing of [sight], the white eye burned in his forehead, his perception becoming incredibly detailed. Ahead he made out the slightest impressions in the dirt of the invisible assassin. Behind splattered blotched of blue, the assassin managing to send the droplets in a haphazard manner behind him as he staggered towards the gate.
"Come out and plaaaAAaaay," Kenji said in his best horror film voice, scraping the stone at his feet with his gauntlet.
The assassin turned on a dime to see Kenji crash into stone, pain flaring up and down his legs. He forced himself to ignore the damage, focusing everything on the show.
Advertisement
"I killed you," came a regal voice. Invisibility shuddering, the creature slowly revealed itself. "Tch, out of mana." A dark cape, two little white fangs, ashen skin and slanted eyes filled with crimson orbs that held the weight of a Lord in their depths. Rising tall, the Vampire assassin stared with a hungering bloodthirst right into Kenji's soul.
"You made a mistake. You can't kill what's already dead ooOOoo~" Kenji said in his best-haunted tone. The way the vampire stepped back, one hand clenched to one of the wounds in his side, Kenji thought it was working.
"I hate this damned world. My first dead hero and it was some kind of lich-"
"Liches are magic users," Kenji said against his better judgment. "I would be closer to a Deathknight."
"Did you not just use Holy magic before?" The vampire's eyebrow twitched. "And since when can those associated with a holy power become undead anyway? This game suuuuucks."
"Ever heard of the Lich King? he was a paladin that became a Deathknight- but he had lich in the title- bah! never mind," Kenji growled.
"So- not really a ghost then?" The Vampire Assasin smirked.
"What number are you?" Kenji stalked closer. Activating his magic focus, the silver candle becoming lit with a little white flame. Drawing on its holy essence, Kenji cast [Bless-fire] on his sword, white fire erupting along its steel edge.
"Number....? 16, and you?" The Vampire leaned closer to the ground and flickered a blade from fine noble sleaves into each hand. Even worse, Kenji realised he had stopped bleeding as his eyes had started to flare red.
"What. Number?" The vampire said, licking his lips as his white fangs lengthened, and claws burst through his gloves.
"Your XP...you spent it," Kenji said as he realised. Spitting to the side, Kenji lowered his helm. "I'm 1."
That made the bastard's eyes go wide, Kenji already swinging his flaming sword before he could recover.
"DAARIO?" The Vampire screamed, moving like water and yet startled, proved too slow. Kenji's sword plunged into his shoulder, cutting through like butter, darkness and blue blood exploding outward.
"I'm sorry Daario, I didn't know this was your terf! I'll do what you ask - just don't kill me!"
Advertisement
Cleaving down into his belly, the Vampire screamed.
"Kneel then, throw away your weapons and swear me your fealty," Kenji said in his best bad guy tone. From roleplaying games, he knew it was best when emotionless, unforgiving, and absolutely cut-throat in implementation. The Vampire knelt, head pressed into the ground, knives crashing against the stone in each direction.
"It's me Daario, Seb. We used Nocturne as an intermediary?"
Ah, so they had never met each other face to face, Kenji thought. That made him very happy indeed, worried his mannerisms would not be in line with this 'Daario' he seemed so scared of.
"Seb, tell me about your species. All of it," Kenji continued unabating, edging closer. Wanting to be absolutely sure he could end this in the next strike.
"Vampire Elder species. Fast, can regenerate by spending blood. Blood that for me is pure mana, and takes many more bodies to replenish. My special ability is invisibility, but that costs my blood to maintain as well, even if it is quite cheap."
Peering up, Seb squinted. "But Daario, I was told holy element was our weakness as morally evil- urgh!" Kenji missed, his blade sinking deep through 16's other shoulder to pierce a lung, pulling free he left the vampire with nearly a third of his body dangling. Sliding back quickly, 16 jumped to his feet, a third knife in dangling hand, blue blood welling between the wounds and stitching them back together.
"You not Daario, are you?" 16 snarled, eyes flaring red.
"Nope," Kenji said mid-swing, gambling it everything by adjusting the arc of his swing to where the Vampire might go. Sure enough, the Vampire had moved instinctually, and Kenji swung his flaming sword right through the vampire's head. A burst of white and the Vampire was reduced to a smouldering corpse, a fuzzy feeling like static filling the back of Kenji's mind.
[Well done, Crusader. By defeating a creature of the Night you have gained my favour- wait, who are you?]
Kenji sweated through all his layers, as he felt a god peering into his soul.
[Hmm. Rest well Crusader, you seem to have been mentally affected through the fighting. Indeed I thought you had died at one point, hoho.]
Hoho?
[Now. For your reward, would you like to help the people, or fight the enemy?]
Kenji was presented with twin banners in his mind. The first was the bright Blessing of Life, a healing spell that cured the wounds of his brothers and destroyed the flesh of evil. He could even use it three times a day. The second was the golden banner of the Divine Stance, a rare spell, that enhanced his movement speed for 30 seconds a day.
The healing spell was easily the most beneficial. Kenji would no doubt encounter the morally corrupt again. Meanwhile, the healing factor alone would help prevent both his own deaths and that of would-be heroes. Easy XP then.
But that feeling of rarity taunted him. He wavered, his mind adoring the nature of the limited edition, and yet ultimately much less useful, Divine Stance.
It hurt Kenji deeply, but to honour Arthur's memory at least he would choose his build wisely. He chose to help the people and the blessing of life.
[Excellent, now deliver the corpse of this beast to the nearest Cathedral for an additional reward. And know, that I am always watching over you] the god faded from Kenji's mind.
He shivered, having a weird god like that watching him not something he enjoyed the idea of at all. Yet with the garrison dead, the proper authorities were most likely already on their way. Kenji put the smouldered vampire under one arm and got going.
He did quickly check to see if he could replicate 16's body. Yet in such a ruined state, the missing head especially, the body was not complete enough to be replicated.
"Tch. Well, wheres that Catherdral then?"
Searching through Arthur's memories he quickly found just where, and got moving.
Immediately upon entering the streets, Kenji was swept away by the crowd. The entire city seemingly on the move, although thankfully in the direction of the Cathedral - no, into the cathedral. Thousands upon thousands of warriors, crusaders, guards, knights, militiamen, vampire hunters and more.
Just what the hell was going on here?
Advertisement
- In Serial23 Chapters
The Painter: A fantasy psych thriller and epic
*** June 21th Update ***- New chapters are being posted! I haven't figured out a schedule yet, but stay tuned!- Thank you to everyone who has read and reviewed, I'm happy to say The Painter is in the top 200 best-rated fictions. - Readers of The Painter have suggested reading through Chapter 6 before making a decision on this book.- The story takes place in the Lootverse, but you don't need a canonical understanding to appreciate the storyFinally, a warning or reader beware: This is not an action novel (despite the coming fight scene) but a slow-burn psychological thriller of sorts. For a time, the Painter's life was simple. He lived in the small town of Kinon (called Kinney by locals) with his wife, Kahriah and his son, Thesdon. The story begins with him alone and unable to travel more than a few hundred miles from his home. For 5 years he tried to chart his prison until one day a letter appears with a mysterious commission that will see him test his condition and his boundary. Set roughly 50 years before the impending end of days (from Loot canon), The Painter is a story about loss, grit, and exploration of a seemingly normal man in a world of magic and monsters. The Painter will follow the man on his adventure to restore his family, uncover his commissioners and discover the nature of his condition. Loot is the decentralized, global, community built fantasy world based on Dom Hoffman's art/tech experiment: Loot. Fun fact: The cover of our book is painted by the artist, who the MC is loosely based on and the same person painting the Banners (digitally) IRL for an art/worldbuilding project.
8 142 - In Serial9 Chapters
Letters from a Dying World
Times historic are often penned after the fact in the lifeblood of the pitiful, forgotten masses. That roiling, uncountable crush of humanity, they who held the pikes and they who threw down the tyrants. Their veins opened by gazes academic, sharp and cruel, and pecked away at with quills, written out of their own story. The Second Dark Crusade was a time of such poignancy. A time when the light of man waned and flickered, choking in the acrid smoke of its own inadequacy. As befitting of such an age it has been covered more than a capital whore, and so I attempt not to tell that story again. That story of dull, unfeeling analysis. Neither here will you find the browbeating, propagandistic screeds so common in the hands of men, the light of youth still burning behind their eyes. Nay, here I shall attempt to cover fresh ground, not tread on the grave dirt of long dead authors. Here I shall attempt to tell the story of the small lives caught, unbeknownst to them, in the great and torrential downpour that we now call history. Here lies the true story of The Second Crusade. - Loremaster Ip'Qal
8 69 - In Serial9 Chapters
ViceDrug986
While enjoying a normal day in-home, Kochan takes a long nap. He awakes in the midnight only to see a book visible to him, in the book it showed many drugs that even he never learned in class. In curiosity, Kochan creates the drugs in his attic, his fellow classmates in high school, mostly around half of them were drug heads. Making money, and reading the never-ending pages in the books of drugs unknown to humans.
8 141 - In Serial27 Chapters
Cocaine Rose (Urban)
When Heaven's dad is brutally murdered and the only man she's ever loved falls into the arms of another woman her world seems to be crashing down. A move to Atlanta seems to be a new start but Heaven soon finds herself in a love affair that she is unable to shake and she soon finds herself figuring out that Love is like a drug, it can bring you high and it can have you low. But once love has set out to get you there's nothing you can say... Or do
8 106 - In Serial145 Chapters
The Poor Female Lead Can't Take Anymore!(Realm-5)[Myanmar Translation]
Name(s) : Quick Transmigration Cannon Fodder's Record of Counter Attack Ning Shu 快穿之炮灰女配逆襲記Author(s) : Hen Shi Jiao Qing(很是矯情)E-translator(s) : Butterfly's CurseRealm Title : The Poor Female Lead Can't Take Anymore!(Realm-5)E-trans link is here~http://butterflyscurse.stream/novel-translations/qtf-table-of-contents/I don't own this story. Just translate into Myanmar Language! Got premission from English Translator(s).
8 148 - In Serial31 Chapters
PANIC CORD ━━━ l.skywalker ¹
❝ 𝘐'𝘓𝘓 𝘈𝘓𝘞𝘈𝘠𝘚 𝘊𝘖𝘔𝘌 𝘉𝘈𝘊𝘒 𝘛𝘖 𝘠𝘖𝘜 ❞Clary Solo would do anything for her brother; little did she know that meant rebelling against the Galactic Empire. ( star wars, ep iv - vi ) ( luke skywalker x oc ) ( completed 2019 dec 30 ) ( book 1 in the 𝗗𝗔𝗥𝗞 𝗠𝗔𝗧𝗧𝗘𝗥 series)© tilmourning 2015
8 159

